Door-closing means for scows or bins.



No. 868,662. PATENTED OCT. 22, 1907.

F. HAYES. Y DOOR CLOSING MEANS FOR snows 0R BINS;

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 6, 1906.

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FRANK HAYES, OF SUPERIOR, WISCONSIN.

DOOR-CLGSING MEANS Specification of Letters Patent.

FOR SCOWS OR BINS.

Patented Oct. 22, 1907.

Application filed August 6, 1906- Ssrial No. 329,337.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK IIAYES, a citizen of the United States,residing at Superior, in the county of Douglas and State of Wisconsin,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Door-Closing Meansfor Scows or Bins; end I do hereby declare the following to be a full,clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use thesame.

My invention relates to door closing means for scows, or bins, and hasfor its object the provision of a convenient and simple gear and levermechanism for rotating the Windlass by which the door closing cables orchains are wound up.

It consists of the constructions, combinations, and arrangements ofparts hereinafter described and claimed.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of one form of my saidin vention and Fig. 2, is a perspective view of a modified form thereof.

In the drawings, fl is a casting forming, in part, a portion of thejournal bearing of the shafts 2, 2, and in part the bearing of the shaft3, and in part an anchorage and backstop for the dogs f and 5. Ifdesired, the part 3 in Fig. .1. may be constructed as an integral partof the casting 1, instead of as a shaft journaled therein. The casting 1is recessed as at 1 to receive the heels of the dogs 4 and 5. Bolts, orpins 4 and 5 are projected vertically through said recessed portions andthrough the heels of said dogs to anchor the dogs to the castings, butpreferably not so as to receive the working pressure transmitted by saiddogs from the hereinafter referred to ratchet wheels said workingpressure being preferably received by the rear wall of said recess.

Upon the shafts 2. 2, are keyed ratchet wheels 6 6, which said dogs are,in operative position, adapted to engage and prevent from rotating inone direction. Upon the shaft or portion 3 is journaled a levercomprising afoot or hub T, ahandle 7, and a pawl or pawls 7 In the formshown in Fig. 1, the lever is preferably removable and carries a singlepawl which pawl is preforably forked at its fixed end or heel, and thetines of said fork extend on eith er sid e of the hub and the pawl ispivoted to the hub through said tines. But it is obvious, withoutfurther description, that the hub 7 might be forked or slotted and thefixed end or heel of the lever be straight and pivoted in the slottedportion of the hub, or that said pawl might be otherwise constructed andotherwise affixed to the lever, all within the spirit and scope of my soid invention. In the form shown in Fig. 2, the lever is also journaledon the shaft or part 3, but is not designed to be wholly and frequentlyremoved therefrom.

In the form shown in Fig. 2, the hub and handle of the lever arepreferably separable so that the handle may be frequently removed, foruse with similar hubs.

In the form shown in Fig. 2, the lever includes two pawls 7 01', ineffect, a divided or split pawl, one of which, or one part of whichoperates upon one ratchet wheel 6 and the other of which operates uponthe other ratchet wheel 6. One of these pawls in Fig. 2, may, ifdesired, be thrown back out of operating position, while the other isworking. In the form shown in Fig. 2, the handle portion is mounted in asuitable socket formed in the hub portion 7 of the lever. It will beobserved that the effect of this construction is to form a togglejointed lever by which greater turning power can be brought to bear onthe shaft than when following the old method of applying hand levershereinafter referred to.

Since the width of deck for standing room on a scow is limited, it isobvious that the beneficial use of a longer lever is obtainable by myconstruction than in a case where the whole effective length of thelever must be limited to the distance between the operator and theshaft. Said casting 1 is mounted on any suitable support, such forexample as the side coaming 8 of a scow (the main body of the scow notbeing shown). Chains or cables 9, are secured to the Windlass shafts 2,and are preferably led through guide pulleys 10, secured to the endwalls of the bins or scow-hoppers, and the opposite ends of said cablesare secured to the hopper-doors or trap doors (not shown) in the floorof said bins, or scow hoppers.

Heretofore and before the invention disclosed by the United StatesLetters Patent No. 806,807 issued to me and William Clifford jointly,under date of Dec. 12, 1905, it was customary to position the dogswithout any pivotal connection with the support and to secure them by aslack chain or cord. This was a very in convenient method and causedmuch less of time and energy and, not infrequently, the loss of the dogsthrough the breaking of the slack chains when the dogs were knocked outof engagement with the ratchet wheels to permit the unwinding of thecables connected with the hopper doors. Before the invention describedby said patent, it was also customary to wind up said cables byinserting a lever into one or another of a series of peripheral recessesformed in a collar keyed to a Windlass shaft, equivalent to the shaft 2.Such former method of winding up the cables, was, as will now beobvious, also productive of a waste of time and energy. Furthermore,when the shaft was turned, as formerly customary, by a pawl or leverinserted into a recess in the shaft collar, there was nothing providedto retain the lever in the recess, and too often when the lever wasbrought down to a horizontal position it would slip out of the recess,and the operator would lose his balance and fall overboard, this wasespecially apt to occur when the sea was running high.

In the operation of my invention, the lever including the pawl or pawlsis rocked to wind up the cable and close the doors, the dogs engagingthe ratchet wheels to prevent counter rotation of the windlass shafts.When the hoppers or bins have been lilled, and it is desired todischarge their contents, the dogs are struck outward, laterally, with asledge, to disengage them from the ratchet wheels, the doors beingthereupon :torced open by their own weight and the weight 01' the load.It will be observed, however, that in the form of my invention shown inFig. 2, the socket portion of the lever may, after removal of the handleportion, drop down between the dogs and form an interference to thestriking of the dogs on the side necessary to disengage therefrom theratchet wheels, thereby protecting said dogs from accidentaldisengagement, though said socket may be lifted and thrown back where itis desired to strike the dogs.

What I claim is,

1. In door closing mechanism for scows or bins, the COlllhination withsuitable support, of a Windlass mounted mounted thereon, a Windlassjournaled on said support, a ratchet wheel keyed to the Windlass forrotating the same, flexible means secured to said Windlass, a leverpivotally mounted on said support and adapted to rock on an axiseccentric to the axis of rotation of said Windlass and parallel thereto,a pawl pivotally mounted on said lever and adapted to engage saidratchet wheel to rotate the same, a dog pivotally mounted on saidsupport and adapted to engage said ratchet wheel to prevent counterrotation thereof, said pawl being adapted to swing sidewise withrelation to said ratchet wheel to disengage from the same, and saidlever being adapted to be pivotally lowered into protective positionwith relation to said pawl at that side of the pawl on which thepawl-disengaging force is applied, whereby said pawl is protected fromaccidental disengagement 2. in door closing mechanism for scows or bins,the combination with suitable support, of a Windlass mounted thereon andcomprising a shaft, a ratchet wheel secured to said shaft and adapted torotate the same, and flexible means secured to said shaft and adapted tobe in part wound up on the same; a lever adapted to rock on an axisparallel with and separate from the axis of said shaft and adapted to beseparated from its own support, a pawl adapted to be operated by saidlever and to engage sa-id ratchet wheel to rotate the same, and a dogadapted to engage said ratchet wheel to prevent accidental counter r0-tai'ion of the same.

In testimony whereof I hereunto aflix my signature, in presence of twowitnesses.

FRANK HAYES. Witnesses JAMus T. WATSON, Aunnx JonxsoN.

